Do YOU HAVE a Sabbath scrapbook?
No? Well, let's make one. It's fun!
You may buy a ready-made scrapbook at a stationer's or the
dollar store if you like. Be sure that the paper is good quality and there
are plenty of pages. You'll need them.
Maybe you would rather make your own. Get some firm, heavy
paper and cut it into sheets of the same size. Use some thick cardboard for
the cover. Punch holes down one edge of cover and pages, and thread with
ribbon or several strands of embroidery thread or wool. Tie loosely enough
so that the book will lie flat when opened.
Whether you buy or make your book, write on the cover in
large, neat letters
"MY SABBATH SCRAPBOOK"
Put your name on it, of course. Then find a beautiful Bible
picture (a colored one is nicest), and paste that on the cover too.
Now you're all set for action! You must decide what you
would like to collect in your book. Here are some ideas:
Bible Pictures.—You can cut these out of magazines or buy
them from bookstores. If you have many, you can keep special pages for
special subjects, such as creation, Noah and the Flood, David, Daniel, the
life of Christ, Christ's miracles, Christ's parables.
Nature Pictures.—You can have pages for birds, pages for
flowers, for animals, for trees, for sky scenes, for nature scenes, for
insects, and butterflies—just anything that interests you.
Nature Observation Pages.—Especially if you are going out
for nature walks you will like to have pages on which to make records of
trees, birds, flowers, insects, or stars, planets, and constellations that
you can identify. Decorate each page with small pictures of birds, insects,
or whatever you are recording on the page.
Interesting Facts About the Bible.—As you read good
magazines and books, you may come across some interesting little pieces
about the Bible that you would like to keep. Cut them out neatly if they are
in a disposable magazine, or copy them out and paste them in your book.
Quiz Page.—A page or two with questions and quizzes is
interesting. You can entertain your friends with them on Sabbaths.
Inspiring Poems.— You may come across verses in papers or
books that have Bible truths or good lessons in them. You can print these
neatly and then maybe draw a little picture to illustrate it. Sometimes
little flower or nature stickers are helpful to make a verse or poem page
look very pretty. Make sure that everything in your Sabbath Scrapbook is
about things that keep your thoughts on God’s Creation and Bible Truths.
Keep some pages for drawing too. Here are a few suggestions:
Illustrating Texts.—Find a short verse that you like
especially well, and see how attractively you can illustrate it. Use your
paints or colored pencils to make it more beautiful. Print the letters of
the words first, and then color them in the same or varying colors. Arrange
flower sprays, a branch, butterflies, or something decorative around the
whole verse or at one side or above-whatever seems nicest to you. Very often
the verse suggests something you can use in your illustration. "The
righteous shall flourish like the palm tree" looks nice with a palm tree
drawn at one side. "Consider the lilies" looks well with a spray of flowers
for decoration.
Picture Maps.—Making picture maps is a fascinating Sabbath
afternoon occupation. To make a good picture map, you need a large sheet of
paper. Get some drawing paper nearly twice the size of your scrapbook pages.
You can paste one half onto a page when the map is finished, and fold the
other half over it.
To make a picture map of the Holy Land in the time of
Christ, first draw the outline map, then write in the names of the places
visited by Christ, like Bethlehem, Nazareth, Cana, Capernaum, the Sea of
Galilee, and Jerusalem.
Next, in each place draw and color a small picture that will
show what happened there.
For instance, at Cana you can draw and color six waterpots,
for the wedding feast. At Bethlehem you can draw and color, or stick on a
bright star-the star that guided the Wise Men to the Child Jesus. At
Nazareth a hammer and saw will give the clue to the home of Joseph the
carpenter. A boat on stormy waves will remind one of the storm that Christ
stilled on Galilee. The three crosses at Jerusalem will recall the
crucifixion. Now that I've started you off you'll scarcely know where to
stop.
When you have finished your Palestine picture map you will
want to draw another. You can make quite a nice map of the journeyings of
the children of Israel. Copy the map from the atlas section of your Bible.
Just to give you a few ideas to start with-at the Red Sea you can have a
picture of the chariots of Egypt racing down to the sea; at Marah, the
spring of water and the little tree that Moses threw into it at God's
command; at Elim, the twelve wells with the palm trees we read about in
Exodus 15:27; at Mount Sinai, the two tables of the law.
A picture map of the lands that Paul visited around the
Mediterranean Sea will also make a good addition to your scrapbook.
There are the falling prison walls at Philippi, the altar
with its inscription "TO THE UNKNOWN GOD" that Paul saw at Athens, the
bonfire of the books of magic at Ephesus, the shipwrecked boat near Melita,
the viper that tried to kill Paul there, and many other pictures for this
map too.
Friezes.—If there are several of you together, why not work
on a series of pictures and join them together with Scotch tape to make a
frieze. You can decorate your wall with them for a little while, and then
fold them up and paste the end one on a page of your book, so that you can
unfold the pictures to show your friends.
The Christmas story makes a good frieze, with the scenes of
Joseph and Mary on their journey to Bethlehem; of the shepherds in the
fields, praising God; of the Wise Men in their search for the Child King; of
the Babe in the manger; and of the flight to Egypt.
A series on the life of David is interesting to do David
being anointed by Samuel, David playing his harp as he minds the sheep,
David escaping Saul's javelin, David fighting Goliath, and David reigning on
the throne.
The parable of the sower suggests five easy pictures the
sower sowing the seed, the birds eating the seed by the wayside, the seed
lying in stony places with the hot sun scorching it, the thorns that choked
some of the plants, and finally strong plants springing up from the good
ground.
You will think of many ideas of things you would like to
collect for your Sabbath scrapbook. Do have it ready to start next Sabbath,
won't you!
